I haven't been postin' much here lately, but I was thinking about this last night and thought I should drop another note in here, just as a gigantic fwiw.

I took a couple friends of mine to the seminar. Both somewhat new to this stuff (apart from the small bit I had tried to share with them prior). So for both it was a first exposure to Dan, a first doing stuff with folk "outside" our normal group, etc. One guy, well, I forget his rank (I really should know that) but he's been yudansha for a while now. The other is not quite yudansha yet, but on his way. I was curious to see how they both would do, how they would react, and what they'd say later.

We all car pooled because it was a longer drive. On the way home they both commented on being overwhelmed. They both commented about how much sense it all made and how, well, obvious it is that this stuff has value. I think the best comment I heard was that it was like being handed another toolbox, a big one, one full of new tools and new things to do. The only problem was that the toolbox is heavy and requires a lot lugging around daily to get anywhere with it. But they saw absolutely nothing in conflict with the Aikido they've learned. No, it's not the same descriptions, but it's not like it isn't consistent. If anything it is simply more expansive, larger, more defining, etc. Like suddenly being given more context and a wider field of view so much more comes in to focus. But then you are hit with the realization that none of that makes the work to follow any easier. It just makes it clearer where the path lies ahead.

Both men have asked me to get together again on our own to work on what we all remembered from the seminar. Both have asked me to make sure I let them know the next time Dan comes to down. And now I have a few other people in mind locally to bring along next time as well.

And the contagion spreads...

There was no need to debate anything. What remained were simply questions of how to do things, how to improve, how to fix things, and how to train more.

This is a reaction I get to some seminars I attend with some folk within or when I see folk outside my group. Sometimes things at seminars resonate and so many other doors open as a result. Sometimes they're simply small bits of enlightenment, small bits of realization, small expansions of understanding. Sometimes the changes are more like tectonic shifts. And sometimes nothing at all. In the end none of us felt we had to toss anything away. If anything we all felt well served by our training and realized we were given a gift of a vastly larger toolbox with which to continue. Yeah, maybe as Ellis says it will be done quietly while training, simply working on those things we've been given, allowing it to expand our understanding. And sometimes I work on ways to bring more of this stuff to our formal training.

So a thanks again for a fantastic seminar. As I said... the contagion continues to spread...